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For a first playthrough, play the principal Assassin’s Creed games in release order: it preserves the intended progression of the modern-day story and lets you see the series’ mechanics evolve. Choose chronological order if you mainly want to follow the historical settings, from ancient Greece toward Victorian London. These are different kinds of order, and they produce different sequences.
Which order should you play Assassin’s Creed in?
Release order is the clearest starting point for newcomers interested in the full story. The games’ historical adventures are connected by a modern-day narrative that unfolds across releases, while later-set-in-the-past prequels can refer back to earlier entries. Historical chronology instead sorts games by the era of their past-life stories; it does not preserve the order in which players first encountered the overarching narrative.
The lists below separate the principal games from selected companion and spin-off releases. No single boundary for “all games” is used consistently across guides: mobile and handheld titles, expansions, remasters, and the Chronicles games make a genuinely exhaustive list broader than a mainline sequence.
Principal Assassin’s Creed games in historical order
This sequence follows the historical setting dates given in GamesRadar+’s chronology guide, accessed October 7, 2026. It orders the past-era stories, not release dates or every modern-day scene.
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- Learn the ways of the Assassins and seek vengeance for the betrayal of your family
- Journey through 15th-century Renaissance Italy and become the most legendary leader of the Brotherhood, then embark on a final quest of discovery as you learn the truth about the Creed
- Includes enhanced features for the Nintendo Switch system, such as HD Rumble and more
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey — 431–422 BCE. Ancient Greece during the Peloponnesian War.
- Assassin’s Creed Origins — 49–38 BCE. Ptolemaic Egypt and the beginnings of the Hidden Ones.
- Assassin’s Creed Mirage — 861–870. Ninth-century Baghdad and an earlier chapter in Basim’s story.
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla — 872–878. Viking-age England and Eivor’s story.
- Assassin’s Creed — 1191. The Third Crusade, with Altaïr.
- Assassin’s Creed II — 1476–1499. Renaissance Italy and Ezio’s early story.
- Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood — 1499–1507. Primarily Rome; Ezio’s story continues.
- Assassin’s Creed Revelations — 1511–1512. Ezio travels to Constantinople, and the story connects him with Altaïr.
- Assassin’s Creed Shadows — begins in 1579. Its full story span is not specified in the cited chronology, so this is an opening-era placement rather than a complete date range.
- Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag or Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced — 1715–1722. The Golden Age of Piracy in the West Indies; the guide places the remake in the original game’s historical slot.
- Assassin’s Creed Rogue — 1752–1776. Shay Cormac’s story during the colonial period.
- Assassin’s Creed III — American Revolution era. The story follows Connor and Haytham across nearly three decades; the cited chronology does not give a single concise date range.
- Assassin’s Creed Unity — 1776–1794. Paris during the French Revolution.
- Assassin’s Creed Syndicate — 1868. Victorian London.
The sequence makes several release-versus-history differences easy to spot: Odyssey and Origins precede the original game in historical time, and Black Flag is set before Rogue and III, despite being released after III.
Principal games and selected spin-offs in release order
GamesRadar+’s release guide, accessed October 7, 2026, gives the following year-by-year sequence. This includes selected handheld, companion, and Chronicles releases, not every mobile or delisted title. For games sharing a year, the order shown is the guide’s listing order; it does not establish the exact day-by-day release order.
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- Play through three of the greatest entries in the acclaimed Assassin’s Creed series, featuring the franchise’s most iconic hero, Ezio Auditore.
- Immerse yourself in three classic adventures featuring enhanced visuals on the current generation of consoles.
- Experience every moment in legendary Assassin Ezio’s epic journey from a young nobleman to fearless leader of the Brotherhood of Assassins.
- Explore deeper into Ezio’s incredible saga with two bonus short films that go beyond the trilogy.
- Make history across 80 hours of gameplay including three complete games and all single-player add-on content previously released.
| Release year | Games in the guide’s listed order |
|---|---|
| 2007 | Assassin’s Creed |
| 2008 | Assassin’s Creed: Altaïr’s Chronicles |
| 2009 | Assassin’s Creed II; Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery; Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines |
| 2010 | Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood |
| 2011 | Assassin’s Creed Revelations |
| 2012 | Assassin’s Creed III; Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation |
| 2013 | Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag |
| 2014 | Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry; Assassin’s Creed Rogue; Assassin’s Creed Unity |
| 2015 | Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China; Assassin’s Creed Syndicate |
| 2016 | Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India; Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia |
| 2017 | Assassin’s Creed Origins |
| 2018 | Assassin’s Creed Odyssey |
| 2020 | Assassin’s Creed Valhalla |
| 2023 | Assassin’s Creed Mirage |
| 2025 | Assassin’s Creed Shadows |
| 2026 | Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced |
Ubisoft’s own ordering guide is a useful publisher reference for major releases through Mirage and for some companion-game relationships, but it predates Shadows and Black Flag Resynced. The later entries above come from GamesRadar+’s current release list.
Where companion games and Chronicles fit
Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation
Liberation is a companion to Assassin’s Creed III, set in New Orleans and starring Aveline de Grandpré. Its events overlap the American Revolution-era sequence, so an expanded chronological playthrough should treat it as alongside the relevant events of III, rather than assuming that all of III happens first. The available publisher description establishes the connection and setting, but not a scene-by-scene placement.
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- Includes both Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag and Assassin’s Creed Rogue, plus all single-player DLC.
- Become the most feared pirate in the Caribbean in Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag. Take part in an award-winning naval experience and explore a massive open world.
- Become the ultimate assassin hunter in Assassin’s Creed Rogue, and play as a Templar for the first time in franchise history.
- Additional bonus content: Black Beard: The Lost Journal (pp. 1– 55) and Assassin’s Creed: Awakening Volumes 1 & 2.
- Experience enhanced features like handheld mode, HD Rumble, a touch screen interface, and motion control aiming.
Freedom Cry
Freedom Cry follows Adéwalé, Edward Kenway’s first mate, and is tied to Black Flag. For a release-oriented expanded playthrough, play it after or alongside Black Flag; the cited publisher material does not establish a precise scene-level position.
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles
Ubisoft describes Chronicles as a distinct 2.5D action-stealth trilogy. Its games are set in sixteenth-century China, nineteenth-century India, and early twentieth-century Russia. The release list places China in 2015 and India and Russia in 2016.
Rank #4
- Live Ezio's complete life story:Play as Ezio, the most celebrated and iconic Assassin in the Assassin's Creed franchise. Join him on his journey from a young man to the most legendary leader of the Assassin Brotherhood. Follow him in his final quest for discovery and revelation through all single-player campaigns and single-player add-on content from the three collected games
- Enhanced for the new generation:Experience these three classics with greater hardware capabilities and processing power, bringing the stories and immersion to life with enhanced graphics and post-processing techniques.
- Exciting game content and bonus films:Learn more about Ezio's life with the complete Assassin's Creed Lineage and Assassin's Creed Embers short films included.
Handheld and mobile releases
The release list includes platform-specific titles such as Altaïr’s Chronicles, Discovery, and Bloodlines. It is a selection, not a complete inventory of all mobile, handheld, or delisted releases. Check the platform and edition before buying or planning a playthrough; a title’s appearance on a list does not guarantee it is available for your system.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why release order and historical order differ
The franchise uses historical settings alongside a modern-day framing story. A chronology of the historical settings therefore answers “when does this adventure take place?”, while release order answers “what sequence did players encounter the games in?” The distinction is also visible in the academic timeline published by M.J.P. Bosman in Religions in 2018: its table explicitly orders primary games by internal time frame and includes release years separately. That table predates later releases, so it helps explain the two approaches but is not a current complete list.
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- Live Ezio's complete life story:Play as Ezio, the most celebrated and iconic Assassin in the Assassin's Creed franchise. Join him on his journey from a young man to the most legendary leader of the Assassin Brotherhood. Follow him in his final quest for discovery and revelation through all single-player campaigns and single-player add-on content from the three collected games
- Enhanced for the new generation:Experience these three classics with greater hardware capabilities and processing power, bringing the stories and immersion to life with enhanced graphics and post-processing techniques.
- Exciting game content and bonus films:Learn more about Ezio's life with the complete Assassin's Creed Lineage and Assassin's Creed Embers short films included.
Some individual dates differ between sources. For example, Bosman’s 2018 table dates Origins to 49–43 BCE, while GamesRadar+’s current chronology gives 49–38 BCE. The main chronology above follows GamesRadar+ consistently; readers should treat dates as the cited guide’s ranges rather than a claim that every source uses the same boundary.
Quick Recap
Sources
- GamesRadar+, “How to play the Assassin’s Creed games in order: chronological and release date,” accessed October 7, 2026.
- Ubisoft News, “How to Play the Assassin’s Creed Games In Order,” accessed October 7, 2026.
- M.J.P. Bosman, “The Assassin’s Creed: A Religious Studies Perspective,” Religions (2018), timeline table.
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